Coimbatore : With India at number two position after China in terms of the number of chronic Hepatitis B infections, there was an urgent need for Indians to get tested and avoid risk of its contraction, a leading gastroenterologist of the city said Friday.
   
Nearly  50 million Indians are chronically infected with Hepatitis B, which is not   only the most serious type of viral hepatitis but also highly contagious, Dr V G Mohan Prasad of VGM Hospital said here.
     
People with vaccination and timely initiation of antiviral treatment are the pillars of hepatitis b virus prevention and control to prevent the development of major life threatening complications of chronic liver disease–cirrhosis (scarring of the liver) and liver cancer, he told reporters here.
  
There was lack of awareness about the disease across the country and by a simple test people can know their status and if need be take three doses of the medicine, he said.